love with you, but I don't want you to ever suffer regrets.'
'I will have no regrets,' she said with absolute truth. 'But I swear that if you hold to your
His clasp tightened around her face. 'You win, my dear girl. You've tangled my brain and willpower like a skein of yarn.' He stood and caught her hand to raise her into an embrace, mouth to mouth, body to body, heat to heat. This time he was wholly present, as committed to intimacy as she.
She caught her breath as his hands slipped beneath her tunic to circle her breasts. Gods, she had not known what pleasure there could be in touch!
As she whimpered from the sensations that blazed through her, he stripped off her loose undertunic and trousers, then removed his tunic so that her breasts crushed into the warm flesh and soft hair of his chest. 'I'd wondered what sort of figure lurked behind Jin Kang's garments. You are even lovelier than I dreamed.'
This time she believed his words, for there was passion in the lips that closed over her nipple. So gentle, so careful, yet she could feel the fierceness of his leashed desire.
For a moment he stepped away. She opened her eyes to see him laying out their blankets together to warm the cool stone floor. Then he drew her down to their bed and stretched out beside her. 'Troth,' he murmured into her hair. 'Mei-Lian. Though you've lived as a man, you are pure woman, supple and strong and beautiful beyond words.'
'What… what should I do?' she said unevenly, her hands restlessly running through the hair on his chest.
'Simply relax and tell me what pleases you. Another time…' He laughed a little. 'Well, there are other lessons beyond this one.' His lips found shocking sensitivity in the hollow of her throat and along the edge of her jaw before his mouth claimed hers again.
Hazed with passion, she obeyed him and became a creature of reactions, her choked sounds of pleasure revealing how each of his caresses pleased her more than the last. Where their bodies touched, she could monitor his desire, could feel the flex of his muscles as he rigidly restrained himself.
His warm palm stroked over her belly, arousing her unbearably. Desire coiled inside her so tautly that she gasped when his hand slipped between her thighs.
He stopped immediately. 'Does that upset you?'
Her nails bit into his shoulders. 'No! No, please, don't stop.'
Gently he resumed his intimate caresses, so sure and knowing that she could scarcely bear it. She was all fire, burning, burning…
She moaned, clinging to him as her body exploded with a pleasure beyond any she'd ever dreamed. Ah, gods, the only greater pleasure could be when he released his control and they took flight together…
Rapture subsided, leaving her panting with her face buried against his shoulder. 'That was… a good beginning,' she said unsteadily. He still wore his loose undertrousers, so she slipped her hand under the waist in a tentative search for the source of the hard heat pressing her thigh.
He caught her hand again. 'Let us sleep now. It's been a long day.'
Her eyes shot open and she stared at him with astonishment. His face was sheened with perspiration, but his expression was calm. He'd planned all along to go only this far and no further.
'But what of you?' She yanked her hand free of his and cupped that fascinating source of male energy. 'Would you deny me the opportunity to give back pleasure?'
He froze, except for the heavy throb against her palm. 'You've learned some of what you wished, I think, yet nothing irrevocable has been done.'
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'My lord Kyle,' she said severely. 'Stop being so damnably noble.'
Chapter 20
His face lit with sudden laughter. 'You're right-I take myself far too seriously. It's not as if I'm so irresistible that all women must fall in love with me.'
'Then let us come together as friends, without too much seriousness.' Heady with relief, she gently squeezed his organ. It reared urgently against her hand.
He sucked in his breath, then roughly pulled off his loose trousers and positioned himself between her legs. 'My dearest Troth,' he breathed before he kissed her. His tongue caressed hers even as his heated shaft slid moistly against her most private places with an exhilarating friction. 'It is you who are irresistible.'
To her amazement, passion flared anew under his caresses. Yearning became need until she was frantic to end her emptiness. 'If I am so irresistible-stop resisting!'
He captured her words with his mouth, and entered her with one slow, powerful thrust. She'd heard there was pain the first time, but she felt only a quick stab that vanished in a torrent of mind-searing sensation as he filled her, then found the rhythm of her pounding heart.
Her nails scored his back as she rocked into him over and over.
She bit his shoulder as she convulsed uncontrollably. Yet despite his ragged breath and plunging body, she sensed that he had not taken flight with her.
As her tremors began to subside, he withdrew and wrapped his arms crushingly around her. Then he climaxed against her belly in hard, shuddering bursts as he groaned, 'Mei-Lian, dear God, Mei-Lian…'
Sadly she recognized that even in the throes of passion he would not let himself make a baby casually with a woman who was not his mate. Though it was another mark of his honor, she mourned for the absence of that final intimacy.
She must not complain, for already she had more than she had dared hope for. The goddess had been generous to her petition. She licked his shoulder where her mouth had marked his salty skin. 'Thank you, my lord.'
He smiled. 'It is I who must thank you. What an incredible gift you've given me.'
'Why did you call me Mei-Lian?'
'I suppose… because it is your most secret name,' he said thoughtfully. 'A name suited to the greatest intimacy a man and woman can share.'
'As Kyle is your private name?'
'Exactly. In all the world, only my brother and sister still call me that.' He kissed the tip of her nose. 'And now you.'
'Not your father?'
'My mother did-the name Kyle is Scottish and used in her family. But I was Viscount Maxwell since the day I was born, so my father always used my title.'
He stroked the length of her torso with such tenderness that she wanted to weep. Though his heart was unavailable, he was the gentlest and most thoughtful of lovers. What a lucky woman his Constancia had been to have known the fullness of his love.
As her breathing steadied, she wondered how many times they might lie together like this. A fortnight, perhaps, while they traveled to Hoshan and then to Macao? Not enough, never enough. Perhaps they could continue to couple on the voyage to Britain? That would take at least four or five months, longer if the winds didn't favor their ship.
No. She must not delude herself. This rapture must end when he was among his own people again. All she had was tonight and a handful of days beyond. She must make the most of them.
He fell asleep slowly, wanting to savor the feel of Troth in his arms. He'd not felt such contentment since
